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Monsoon Capital banks on quant to regrow hedge fund assets

Monsoon Capital, which managed $1.6 billion before the financial crisis triggered major redemptions, is banking on quant-driven strategies.

It seeks to regain lost ground following strong performance in its Asia-Pacific hedge fund, founder Gautam Prakash said.

The Monsoon Asia Pacific Systematic Program, a $15 million managed futures fund using quant techniques to trade index futures in eight regional markets, was up 17.5 percent in August according to investor letter seen by Reuters. The fund has gained 51.5 percent since November 2010 launch.

By comparison, the MSCI Asia-Pacific index was down 8.6 percent in August.

The firm's assets had plunged by 90 percent to $150 million in the fourteen months to March 2009 after the financial crisis wiped out trillions of dollars from stock markets globally and panicked investors rushed to redeem from funds.

"August provided a smooth downtrend that the fund was able to take advantage of by going short," Prakash said.